How to Drive Product Upsells With Marketing Automation

As any business grows, it pays to seek out ways to automate some of the towering predictable and day-to-day tasks and operations across the company to keep things running smoothly. And with the advent of mar tech in the market, marketing has changed as we know it. One of these marketing technologies is marketing automation, which refers to the use of software to automate repetitive tasks involving marketing processes like social media marketing, email marketing and lead generation.

And since it requires little to no human action, many businesses have already started using it to augment their marketing and sales efforts—allowing them to create more leads and convert more customers at scale.

The benefits of marketing automation

There are several use cases for using marketing automation to drive product upsells. For one, you can set up email automation or targeted ads that promote related products to your customers. If someone buys a product from your online store, you can thank them via an automated message, along with suggestions for other products they might like. It’s a value-packed upselling tactic that takes minimal effort on your end since the technology does the job for you. Not only does it increase your sales and revenue, but it also frees up your time to focus on other tasks which ultimately saves time and money.

Marketing automation tools can also optimise how you manage multichannel and multi-faceted digital marketing campaigns. It can help you qualify leads, manage their distribution to your reps, as well as score and sort incoming leads automatically into priority lists. 

Another key aspect of marketing automation is its capability to measure the success of your campaigns. Having the ability to accurately track how much ROI your campaigns are generating in a timely manner will help you refine your marketing strategies accordingly so you can reach your marketing goals faster.

Simply put, a marketing automation tool is a must for businesses looking to embark on a marketing transformation journey so they can simplify, streamline and supercharge their marketing and sales efforts.

How to use marketing automation for product upsells

Now that you know why marketing automation is so effective for product upsells, let's take a look at how you can use it to increase your upsell rate.

Set up automated follow-up emails or triggered e-mails

Email marketing is a great way to keep in touch with your customers, but it can also be an effective tool for nurturing leads and upselling products or services. With marketing automation, you can set up some introductory email nurture campaigns for new customers that are triggered every week, every month, or when appropriate based on the customer lifecycle.

They can also be triggered emails or emails that are sent based on a specific action a subscriber takes. This way, you can send a series of emails to your customers after they purchase a product.

Each email should contain a different upsell offer. For example, you could send an email with a discount on a related product or an email with a special offer for customers who purchase a certain amount.

These lead nurturing efforts can help establish customer trust and prod your customers to explore more of what your company offers.

In the experience economy, personalisation is an expectation, which means personalising your website with relevant content should already be on your radar. Use dynamic content that can serve up different CTAs, skip some forms or even call out their name on your website. 

Set up notifications for when users are browsing your website pages. This can help signal their interest in other products or services you offer. Cascade these notifications to your sales team to give your customers a call to discuss upsell options.

By taking the extra mile in offering them content more relatable to their needs, they're more likely to stick around and check out your other offerings.

Segment customers

Another upside of marketing automation is that it allows you to segment your customers for targeted offers. You can create a segment for customers who have purchased a product in the past six months. Then, you can send them an email with an upsell offer for a new product. Just make sure you’re only upselling products aligned with what they’ve historically engaged with so you won’t come off as spammy and a nuisance.

Retargeting is a marketing tactic that reminds people about your products and services. For example, you can show a retargeting ad to someone who visited your website but didn't purchase anything. In the ad, you can offer a discount on the product they were interested in. Combined with valuable content, it’s a simple yet effective way to nudge a potential customer down the funnel and into considering your product or service. 

Another marketing automation feature, lead scoring allows you to identify your best prospects and target them with specific offers. You do this by assigning a numeric value to each lead, based on factors such as their purchase history, demographics, and interests.

For example, you can set up lead scoring to prioritise prospects who are interested in your product, have a high need for your product, and are likely to convert.

Then, you can focus your marketing efforts on the leads with the highest score. This is a great way to ensure that you're targeting your upsell efforts towards those who are most likely to convert.

Finally, don't forget to track your results. This way, you can see which product upsells are working and which ones aren't.

There are several different ways to monitor your results. One way is to use tools like Google Analytics and Salesforce. Either way, make sure you're tracking your results so you can see which product upsells are most effective. Technology continues to bring transformation and has disrupted traditional marketing tactics and marketing automation will become an increasingly important tool to help you drive marketing transformation. By automating processes and tasks that are time-consuming or repetitive, you can focus on higher-level strategic initiatives—affording you the scale and efficiency you need to take your business to the next level.

As the Transformation Agency, we specialise in helping businesses make the most out of marketing automation technology and make the leap into a new era of marketing success. We’ll help you develop a plan for automating your digital marketing campaigns that goes beyond simple product upsells and delivers real results. We would be happy to chat with you about how our services could help you maximise this powerful tool in achieving your business goals.